Memes Happen
Summer meme makes me feel fine,
blowin' through the jasmine in my mind...
Elena has tagged me with what looks to be the world's longest meme:
What I was doing 10 years ago: eating pizza?
5 years ago: probably watching that I Dream of Jeannie episode where Tony yells "Jeannie!!...Jeannie!!" multiple times
1 year ago: I'll take Blogging for $500 Alex
Yesterday: Mass, read McCullough's account and analysis of Truman's decision to drop the atomic bombs (fascinating read), grilled out shish-ke-bobs (actually my stepson did the cooking), drank two beers, mediated a family quarrel, hiked four miles.
5 Snacks I enjoy:
Ding Dongs
King Dons
Life cereal
Oreo's with new chocolate center
grapes
5 songs I know all the words to:
Take Me Out to the Ballgame
Billy, Don't Be a Hero
Star Spangled Banner
Take Our Bread
The Impossible Dream from Man of La Mancha
5 things I would do with $100 million dollars:
Unstrap our financially-strapped Byzantine Church
Buy a kayak for Darby Creek wanderings
Donate to my Catholic high school
Ditto Elena, back to school for theology/history and/or literature
Acquire ten acres out in the country
5 locations which I would like to visit:
Jerusalem
Germany
Rome
Medjugorje
Mexico
5 bad habits I have:
too much internet
trouble on the greens & off the tee (chip well)
too much dependence on self
laziness
answering memes
5 things I like doing
reading
writing
listening to music
beer drinking
biking
5 things I would never wear:
a lampshade
Speedos
an earring
a man bro
Bill Clinton-length running shorts
5 TV shows I like:
24
The Apprentice
The Munsters
BookTV's "In Depth"
Franciscan University Presents
5 biggest joys of the moment:
beauty of summer
the Mass
a plethora of great books to read
seeing my previously liberal stepson donating to the Cato Institute
the Sox are in town when I go to visit Boston o'er Labor day! Yea!
5 favorite toys:
Tivo
my 'puter
lawn tractor
my dvd player
cell phone
And these from Bill of Summa Minutiae (for once, living up to his blog name):
What are the last three things that made you sweat?
Reading in backyard sun on Sunday
Hike in woods Sunday
Cleaning house on Saturday
As far as tagging people, consider this an open invitation. I wouldn't want to be responsible for furthering a possible internet addiction. :-)
July 18, 2005
Bumper Stickers
Jeff Culbreath is looking for a few good bumper stickers. Which reminds me of a SUV I saw recently with a Marine Corps sticker beside another that said, "Martyrs or Marines? Who do you think is going to get the virgins?"
Jeff Culbreath is looking for a few good bumper stickers. Which reminds me of a SUV I saw recently with a Marine Corps sticker beside another that said, "Martyrs or Marines? Who do you think is going to get the virgins?"
It's Intended to be Win-Win
I often forget that we're to thank God both in good times and in bad. This is a "win/win" situation: when times are going well we thank God for it and when times are not going well suffering offers us an opportunity to become closer to Him & so we thank Him. A saint once wrote "what's it to you whether you come to Heaven by way of the fields or the desert?".
But our lives are not all desert nor all field. And the difficulty is quickly accepting the desert after enjoying the field. To use a trivial example, if I'm involved in doing something and my wife asks me to help her do some cleaning or some other task. To switch gears, as it were. Similarly a weekend that looks free and then suddenly I'm told there's a third straight gathering with the in-laws. To smile and thank God seems a foreign concept while I'm out playing in the field (both literally and figuratively).
Some try to avoid re-entry difficulties by attempting to make life all field or all desert. The former is much more common of course, but there are remnants of the latter such as the stripping of physical beauty from churches, or such as shown by the way some denominations forbid drinking, gambling and dancing.
I often forget that we're to thank God both in good times and in bad. This is a "win/win" situation: when times are going well we thank God for it and when times are not going well suffering offers us an opportunity to become closer to Him & so we thank Him. A saint once wrote "what's it to you whether you come to Heaven by way of the fields or the desert?".
But our lives are not all desert nor all field. And the difficulty is quickly accepting the desert after enjoying the field. To use a trivial example, if I'm involved in doing something and my wife asks me to help her do some cleaning or some other task. To switch gears, as it were. Similarly a weekend that looks free and then suddenly I'm told there's a third straight gathering with the in-laws. To smile and thank God seems a foreign concept while I'm out playing in the field (both literally and figuratively).
Some try to avoid re-entry difficulties by attempting to make life all field or all desert. The former is much more common of course, but there are remnants of the latter such as the stripping of physical beauty from churches, or such as shown by the way some denominations forbid drinking, gambling and dancing.
A Shocker
The conversation had the same quality we'd been having for years but this time with a shocking twist for an ending. (Though perhaps she's just more honest than most?)
Her goal is temporal happiness and to avoid suffering, and so there's always a wrestling between her and God.
"Look at the way he treats his friends- the Jews, the Irish, His Son!"
I had no answer. This didn't seem to be an opportune time to mention Pascal's line that "every conversion is a sentence" or quote the writer Paul Claudel: "No one can foretell where the demands of God, which the Scriptures tell us are harsher than Hell, will stop. Small wonder that your flesh shudders where so many of the greatest saints have trembled before you."
I'd certainly tried St. Paul, who said that God never gives us more than we can bear.
She asked me to pray for something concerning a mutual loved one.
"I'll pray that God's will be done."
"No! Don't pray for that!"
"What? You're kidding right."
"No, I never pray for that."
I should've asked her how she makes it through the Our Father. But I also realized anew the natural end of apologetics, that point at which only Love can take somebody. There's a gospel account of Our Lord saying that it's better to do something after saying you won't do it, than saying you will and not doing it. I hope and pray she's in the former category.
The conversation had the same quality we'd been having for years but this time with a shocking twist for an ending. (Though perhaps she's just more honest than most?)
Her goal is temporal happiness and to avoid suffering, and so there's always a wrestling between her and God.
"Look at the way he treats his friends- the Jews, the Irish, His Son!"
I had no answer. This didn't seem to be an opportune time to mention Pascal's line that "every conversion is a sentence" or quote the writer Paul Claudel: "No one can foretell where the demands of God, which the Scriptures tell us are harsher than Hell, will stop. Small wonder that your flesh shudders where so many of the greatest saints have trembled before you."
I'd certainly tried St. Paul, who said that God never gives us more than we can bear.
She asked me to pray for something concerning a mutual loved one.
"I'll pray that God's will be done."
"No! Don't pray for that!"
"What? You're kidding right."
"No, I never pray for that."
I should've asked her how she makes it through the Our Father. But I also realized anew the natural end of apologetics, that point at which only Love can take somebody. There's a gospel account of Our Lord saying that it's better to do something after saying you won't do it, than saying you will and not doing it. I hope and pray she's in the former category.
Negative Aspects of Blogging
Inspired by the news that Hilary of Fiat is leaving the blogosphere...
1) Dysutopian responses common
Being called a jackass in print, without the ameliorating gestures of tone and body language, often triggers negative emotions in the receiver.
2) Inoculative effects of tiny doses of fame are, in fact, not inoculative.
It is been shown that the negative impacts of fame on the human psyche are not only not avoided by tiny doses of fame but instead these trigger only the desire for greater fame. Site statistics are to bloggers what the Coke bottle was to the Aborigines in The Gods Must Be Crazy.
3) Words as plumage
Inappropriate mating rituals can occur. The male blogger engages in preening activities such as aggressive behavior in comment boxes in order to secure admiring glance of female readers.
4) Taboo Breaking
Saying that which cannot be said can be hellaciously appealing. This most often takes the form of profligate usage of cuss words.
5) Disproportionate Time Spent Polishing Posts of Utter Insignificance
Here the blogger revises and extends his remarks as if they're appearing in the Congressional Record. (Note: since most blogs have more readers than the Congressional Record, this is not necessarily irrational behavior.)
6) Rise of "blog coaches" a sure sign of the Apocalypse
Lavishly paid consultants known colloquially as "blog coaches" provide ideas for posts, analyze content for audience appeal, counsel on when to use "that" versus "which". (Ok, I made this one up.)
Inspired by the news that Hilary of Fiat is leaving the blogosphere...
1) Dysutopian responses common
Being called a jackass in print, without the ameliorating gestures of tone and body language, often triggers negative emotions in the receiver.
2) Inoculative effects of tiny doses of fame are, in fact, not inoculative.
It is been shown that the negative impacts of fame on the human psyche are not only not avoided by tiny doses of fame but instead these trigger only the desire for greater fame. Site statistics are to bloggers what the Coke bottle was to the Aborigines in The Gods Must Be Crazy.
3) Words as plumage
Inappropriate mating rituals can occur. The male blogger engages in preening activities such as aggressive behavior in comment boxes in order to secure admiring glance of female readers.
4) Taboo Breaking
Saying that which cannot be said can be hellaciously appealing. This most often takes the form of profligate usage of cuss words.
5) Disproportionate Time Spent Polishing Posts of Utter Insignificance
Here the blogger revises and extends his remarks as if they're appearing in the Congressional Record. (Note: since most blogs have more readers than the Congressional Record, this is not necessarily irrational behavior.)
6) Rise of "blog coaches" a sure sign of the Apocalypse
Lavishly paid consultants known colloquially as "blog coaches" provide ideas for posts, analyze content for audience appeal, counsel on when to use "that" versus "which". (Ok, I made this one up.)
July 16, 2005
St. Thomas Aquinas on "Whether prayer should last a long time?"
Now the quantity of a thing should be commensurate with its end, for instance the quantity of the dose should be commensurate with health. And so it is becoming that prayer should last long enough to arouse the fervor of the interior desire: and when it exceeds this measure, so that it cannot be continued any longer without causing weariness, it should be discontinued. Wherefore Augustine says (ad Probam. Ep. cxxx): "It is said that the brethren in Egypt make frequent but very short prayers, rapid ejaculations, as it were, lest that vigilant and erect attention which is so necessary in prayer slacken and languish, through the strain being prolonged. By so doing they make it sufficiently clear not only that this attention must not be forced if we are unable to keep it up, but also that if we are able to continue, it should not be broken off too soon." And just as we must judge of this in private prayers by considering the attention of the person praying, so too, in public prayers we must judge of it by considering the devotion of the people.
Wow
Lefty Richard Cohen takes on lefties (talk about a man bites dog story):
Lefty Richard Cohen takes on lefties (talk about a man bites dog story):
Whatever it is that explains how thugs on the left remain heroes long after their thuggery has been exposed has now attached itself in a way to Saddam Hussein. I don't think he is quite ready for T-shirts or coffee mugs, but when the war in Iraq is denounced, Hussein is often not mentioned at all. Michael Moore managed to leave him on the cutting room floor in his cartoon of a documentary, "Fahrenheit 9/11," and he gets similar (non)treatment in the upcoming documentary "Why We Fight." From these and other sources you would think that the nature of Hussein and his regime had nothing to do with the decision to go to war. But Hussein figured prominently, even paramountly, in why some of us originally supported the war and why some people still do. The man is a beast.via Two Sleepy Mommies
It's hard, in a mere column, to account for why parts of the left have such a selective concern for human rights -- in one place but not another.
Let's Play...
..."what's on my lampstand" - a new meme as tagged by Steven Riddle. First, a lamp -imagine that! I bet precious few lampstands are without one. Also a clock radio, Lit of the Hours, 3 remotes, "Lamentations & Exaggerations", a Pieta statue and "Letters & Diaries of John Henry Newman Vol. XXVII".
Update: I'm supposed to tag people. Bill of Apologia fame because he can make a boring subject interesting. MamaT. Smock Mama. And two others (decide amongst yourselves) are free to join in the fun.
..."what's on my lampstand" - a new meme as tagged by Steven Riddle. First, a lamp -imagine that! I bet precious few lampstands are without one. Also a clock radio, Lit of the Hours, 3 remotes, "Lamentations & Exaggerations", a Pieta statue and "Letters & Diaries of John Henry Newman Vol. XXVII".
Update: I'm supposed to tag people. Bill of Apologia fame because he can make a boring subject interesting. MamaT. Smock Mama. And two others (decide amongst yourselves) are free to join in the fun.
Pipe Me A Tune
It's so odd how one day the Makem Brothers can sound lachrymose, gluttonously sweet, and Mr. Rogers simple. And the next I can’t get enough of them. I’ve played the cd twice and it strikes some primeval nerve. I can feel again the magic in the strumming of the bodhran - somebody call the Cheiftains!
I'm homesick for Ireland so play me nothing but songs of Eire. I miss the old sod and old poems and the hint of sea dust in the air. I miss the medieval maps with the crypto-familiar names; Connaught, Mayo, Donnegal, Slivo. I hunger for a bit of the west wind's spray against my face, the froth of salt sea against my neck, the rush of white sail flying over the rhythmic blue.
It's so odd how one day the Makem Brothers can sound lachrymose, gluttonously sweet, and Mr. Rogers simple. And the next I can’t get enough of them. I’ve played the cd twice and it strikes some primeval nerve. I can feel again the magic in the strumming of the bodhran - somebody call the Cheiftains!
I'm homesick for Ireland so play me nothing but songs of Eire. I miss the old sod and old poems and the hint of sea dust in the air. I miss the medieval maps with the crypto-familiar names; Connaught, Mayo, Donnegal, Slivo. I hunger for a bit of the west wind's spray against my face, the froth of salt sea against my neck, the rush of white sail flying over the rhythmic blue.
Cén t-ainm atá ort
Oh sean behean-bhoct!
lined with your ancient names
sing, you creasing Shannon,
you weather-beaten land
flood me with your Inis’s
hide me in your Croagh’s
your Ard Mor’s
and your Eochaill’s,
find me in your Loch’s.
Flee back to thee,
Tongue, sound the ancient chord!
Tá mé i mo chónaí i
Bíonn gach duine go lách
go dtéann bó ina gharraí
An dtuigeann tú?
Is dóigh liom
Buíochas le Dia!
July 15, 2005
Sea Songs, Shanties, & Poetry
Excellent sea shanty resource:
Excellent sea shanty resource:
Cape Cod girls ain't got no combsAlso came across this retrospective of sea bard George Mackay Brown, including poems of tribute here, here and here.
Haul away, haul away
They brush their hair with codfish bones
And we're bound away for Australia
Whereas, when it blows from the West — which is after all, the airt it loves best — it brings music and magic to us, seal songs and the breath of mermaids and the merry splurge and dance of whales. And more, it brings aromas of the magic isle in the west, that people have known was there for thousands of years. The Gaelic-speakers called it Tir-nan-Og (which means ‘the land of the young’). Once we’re there, believe me, Gypsy, we'll never be old and sick and weary — for pussies there’ll be a silver fish on a plate every day, and a nice stone – emerald or lapis lazuli — to sit on always in the sun, and no dogs and no bad-tempered householders who ‘shoo’ pussies off their doorsteps. There, in Tir-nan-Og, even the East wind is gentle and full of scents and sweet sounds. ---George Mackay BrownExcerpt from "A Cairn for George Mackay Brown" by A.G. Boobier
5,000 years ago
a stone
HURLED
from Vestafiold
§
it BROKE the upsurge
of the Atlantic breakers
held aloof the raw salt wind
at Skara Brae
dug into black earth
held limpets kelp
became sepulchre and home
to fishermen and farmers...
§
it FELL among brothers sisters
who danced in the round
with the Beltane sun
and the two waters
at Brodgar
My Talking Points - prompted by a post on Amy's blog
My take has always been that if the Iraq War was unjust, then the Gulf War was unjust because the Iraq war was a continuation caused by ceasefire violations. If the Iraq War began two months instead of ten years after Hussein began violations fewer would've a problem with it. The time lag bothered most even though, ironically, that time (coupled with economic sanctions) was given to Hussein in order to help avoid war.
Ignoring the ceasefire agreement was certainly a viable option, at the risk of rendering future ceasefires meaningless and thus encouraging other rogue states. Not to mention encouraging Hussein himself. One has to measure that price against the dear price of engagement.
So, is it worse to be unpredictable (in the sense of sometimes enforcing or hewing to agreements and sometimes not) or to be predictable (i.e. having the world know where we stand and how we'll react)? A Ryne Duren or a Greg Maddox?
I should read more on how World War I started. Was it that the major powers were too predictable or not predictable enough? My impression is that key countries had 'set points' which if triggered automatically sent them to war. Was it that the set points were far too trivial for what was to become an unimaginably brutal war? Or was it that their triggers for war weren't communicated or taken seriously?
I see I've asked too many questions to call this my "talking points".
My take has always been that if the Iraq War was unjust, then the Gulf War was unjust because the Iraq war was a continuation caused by ceasefire violations. If the Iraq War began two months instead of ten years after Hussein began violations fewer would've a problem with it. The time lag bothered most even though, ironically, that time (coupled with economic sanctions) was given to Hussein in order to help avoid war.
Ignoring the ceasefire agreement was certainly a viable option, at the risk of rendering future ceasefires meaningless and thus encouraging other rogue states. Not to mention encouraging Hussein himself. One has to measure that price against the dear price of engagement.
So, is it worse to be unpredictable (in the sense of sometimes enforcing or hewing to agreements and sometimes not) or to be predictable (i.e. having the world know where we stand and how we'll react)? A Ryne Duren or a Greg Maddox?
I should read more on how World War I started. Was it that the major powers were too predictable or not predictable enough? My impression is that key countries had 'set points' which if triggered automatically sent them to war. Was it that the set points were far too trivial for what was to become an unimaginably brutal war? Or was it that their triggers for war weren't communicated or taken seriously?
I see I've asked too many questions to call this my "talking points".
Das Hoot
A new form of blogger comedy has been discovered over at the Corner. Basically you pick out Broadway shows and tweak the names and stories for comedic effect.
~
Sound of Moo Sick - a fish-out-of-water comedy about a city slicker in the country dealing with an ill bovine (based on a story by Jeff Culbreath)
Breast Side Story - Young mom sues city for failure to allow her to public breastfeed
My Fair Katie - musical in which William F. Buckley takes a bet that he can turn Katie Couric into a conservative and pass her off at the Heritage Foundation's annual ball
A Soros Line - millionaire George Soros tries singing and dancing rather than throwing money at those mischievous American voters
Hello Folly - tragic docudrama starring young actress marrying a famous actor/Scientologist
Beat Me in St. Louis - comedy starring the Reds playing those unbeatable St. Louis Cardinals
A Funny Thing Happened On the Way to the Sorghum - city uses eminent domain to take small farmer's land in order to build strip mall
Rant 'em at the Opera - counter-tribalist blogger sings rants against everything and everyone
Glen Married Glen's Boss - woman leads forty-year old bachelor down the aisle - or he's fired!
The Lyin' King - the epic saga of filmmaker Michael Moore
Beauty and the Least - story of how in serving those who have the least Mother Teresa became the world's beauty
A new form of blogger comedy has been discovered over at the Corner. Basically you pick out Broadway shows and tweak the names and stories for comedic effect. ~
Sound of Moo Sick - a fish-out-of-water comedy about a city slicker in the country dealing with an ill bovine (based on a story by Jeff Culbreath)
Breast Side Story - Young mom sues city for failure to allow her to public breastfeed
My Fair Katie - musical in which William F. Buckley takes a bet that he can turn Katie Couric into a conservative and pass her off at the Heritage Foundation's annual ball
A Soros Line - millionaire George Soros tries singing and dancing rather than throwing money at those mischievous American voters
Hello Folly - tragic docudrama starring young actress marrying a famous actor/Scientologist
Beat Me in St. Louis - comedy starring the Reds playing those unbeatable St. Louis Cardinals
A Funny Thing Happened On the Way to the Sorghum - city uses eminent domain to take small farmer's land in order to build strip mall
Rant 'em at the Opera - counter-tribalist blogger sings rants against everything and everyone
Glen Married Glen's Boss - woman leads forty-year old bachelor down the aisle - or he's fired!
The Lyin' King - the epic saga of filmmaker Michael Moore
Beauty and the Least - story of how in serving those who have the least Mother Teresa became the world's beauty
Summer Guide to Resisting Lust
It's summertime and that means a young, middle-aged, and an old man's thoughts turn to... the fact that women are wearing less clothes. Here are a few suggestions you may or may not find useful:
1) Re-direct your attention from the body to the face and hair.
Sometimes you can't look away. (This is especially true when you're driving a car - for best results, look straight ahead.) But you can look at hair and face. Not only is that not felt on a glandular level (aesthetic only) but it also reminds you of her personhood and that she's not to be reduced to an object of pleasure.
2) Remember the words of the 23rd Psalm: "The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want". Alternative readings: "I shall not lack" or "I shall not lack for any good thing". Feelings of desire and want can be discarded since how can we want if God promises we shall be satisfied?
3) Praise God for his marvelous handiwork. Tell Him what an impressive job he did with her (sometimes this goes along the lines, 'perhaps too good'). This helps not only in helping us to step back and become outsiders rather than participants but also by invoking God we are given help.
4) Ask Mary to pray that we be given the grace to want to be chaste.
It's summertime and that means a young, middle-aged, and an old man's thoughts turn to... the fact that women are wearing less clothes. Here are a few suggestions you may or may not find useful:
1) Re-direct your attention from the body to the face and hair.
Sometimes you can't look away. (This is especially true when you're driving a car - for best results, look straight ahead.) But you can look at hair and face. Not only is that not felt on a glandular level (aesthetic only) but it also reminds you of her personhood and that she's not to be reduced to an object of pleasure.
2) Remember the words of the 23rd Psalm: "The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want". Alternative readings: "I shall not lack" or "I shall not lack for any good thing". Feelings of desire and want can be discarded since how can we want if God promises we shall be satisfied?
3) Praise God for his marvelous handiwork. Tell Him what an impressive job he did with her (sometimes this goes along the lines, 'perhaps too good'). This helps not only in helping us to step back and become outsiders rather than participants but also by invoking God we are given help.
4) Ask Mary to pray that we be given the grace to want to be chaste.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)